The start of a new year is – without failure – a key time for health hungry Brits to kick off new, healthier habits. Tired of festivities – December can be calorific, after all – we typically see reader engagement with our Healthy Living category grow by almost 80% in the year’s final week before further growth of at least three-quarters in January.

Guiding Brits in the pursuit of their health goals, our premium publisher editorial helps separate the notable trends from the fitness fads during what is a cluttered and competitive time of year. In fact, we see more health conscious readers than ever engaging across the Ozone platform.

In January 2023, almost 6m online readers turned to Ozone publishers, which grew by a third month on month – the highest monthly grow in unique users of the year. Q1 remains a key period for the category with our readers reading more – frequency increased by almost +10% annually in Q1 2023.

A notable trend we’ve spotted in 2023 is how seasonality has shifted with the rise of wellness. While Q1 engagement fell slightly annually, the year as a whole saw an enormous boost, up nearly +40%. For the first time ever, Q1 was not the largest quarter for health interest, with seasonality shifting as the wellness trend has become firmly established.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness market – which spans everything from nutrition and food supplements to personal care – has grown by nearly 10% since 2017, with the UK now the second largest market in Europe. Similarly, Google searches for terms like “biohacking” – the process of improving one’s body or mental facilities using diet, exercise, mindfulness practice, technology or drugs – have increased sixfold in the past decade.

We saw significant growth across a variety of health and wellness content topics that are not as dictated by the ‘new year new me’ phase. In 2023, Q2 and Q3 were the largest quarters, with both driving nearly 60% of annual category page views.

While it’s still the biggest period for trials and sign ups, brands should look beyond the highly competitive Q1 to build brand consideration and preference at the moments throughout the year when readers are most engaged.

Reach the most relevant audiences with Ozone

We have identified a selection of key healthy living audiences of interest for brands and agencies to consider when planning campaigns throughout next year across the Ozone platform. From 12m ‘new year, new me’ readers and 5m Brits making healthier choices to 4m hardcore fitness fanatics, our bespoke segments are sure to reach highly engaged audiences throughout the year?

Want to know more?

If you want access to MORE unique insight like this at your fingertips, sign up to Ozone Ad Manager FOR FREE to explore the content consumption habits of our nationwide audience of 43m internet users.

Ozone Ad Manager is exclusively available to our agency and advertiser partners. First-time users of the platform can sign up to register to use it here oam.ozoneproject.com.

For more information, contact your Ozone agency sales representative to find out more or email [email protected].

About Ozone Ad Manager

• Explore more than 1,400 audiences from across a wide-range of interest-based categories and understand content trends from across 1,200 topics.

• Activate campaigns using seasonal segments, such as Easter and Christmas, or specially created ones like Cost of Living, Environmentally Conscious and Luxury Lifestyles.

• Create and then share bespoke audiences or deal details with other users within your agency to streamline your campaign processes with us.